cleverly titled. that's the place to start. i'll tell you one thing is the second part is you finish the story or book to start another one and another one to keep doing them. you'll keep getting better and better. pick up a book like getting published and they'll tell you what to send these stories. i'm not sure what you wrote.

>> hayek, huge fan. >> you're not that big. >> my question is what advice would you give to an aspiring writer who is a huge fan of your boat and also loves to write? >> don't write like me. >> right, ray, ray. try to get every day if you can. if you love it, you will find it's not that hard to do. even if he just read a page. if you read a page it day at the end of the air you have 365. i'm george bush. [laughter] read, read, read, try not to imitate some analysis style. try to develop your own style company roadways. >> hayek, fan, big reader.

bear with me. i get nervous. for the witch and wizard series, while i do love the characters, you give us a little bit i remember in the last book you gave us a little insight -- >> @. it may seem goofy, but the sound is okay. >> you gave insight on the one who is the one and i wonder you're ever going to listen a full history because i'm a little curious about them. >> yeah, as we continue, we'll get a little more. how many have you vetted the series?

>> how many books in the series? >> how many have the right of the series? as you read more, you'll get more about the one who is the one. >> okay, thank you. >> hi, i was just wondering. i read where the wind and i was wondering where you got the idea? >> the whole idea is a wonderful fantasy, i always had this fantasy and i remember to see both southeast association and they had it somewhere in the swamps in georgia and the marshlands. i saw some birds that are sinking how cool it would be to be a little fly marshlands and from there i just said i want to write some flying scenes and the

fantasy of being able to fly. so i think that started it. i just wanted to write a book about flying. >> okay, thank you very much. >> hello, i'm a fan of those. i live in palm beach county and i greatly miss having books and books nearby. i have many of your books, mr. patterson, i'm bookshelves. but i'm here on behalf of first book south florida where the clip they surged forward the national organization and we discussed our dated men have a lot of wonderful event plan for early 2013 and would love to see if there's anyway we could get your supporter. >> i think we've given 100,000 books to first book, simply a great involvement. >> rate, thank you.

>> do we have one more? i see one more little one. >> actually we've cut off the line already. they were so many of french of her. i apologize. >> she's so smart, figured it out. [laughter] >> i don't know how this thing works. i really like the witch and wizard series and i've been reading the books and the novels. you know if it's going to be another graphic novel? >> yeah, the magna will continue to the end of the series. and there's going to be another witch and wizard in february called the case. >> i just want to say this is a charming and i couldn't think of a better way to spend nice. thank you so much.

>> novelist james patterson is speaking at the miami book fair and he talked about the reading program he has personally started. we want to look at other reading programs available in the united states and see what their efforts are. i want to begin with jeanne robinson, chief financial officer of first book. if you could describe what it is to start. >> yes, i just want to say thank you to c-span for all the support you've given tdi or industry and reading, literacy. c-span has been a leader on that and it's wonderful just to salute you. first book is a nonprofit and provides books and educational material to programs, serving cantonese, classroom serving kids in need across the united

states. >> how to shoot it started and where the future funding from? >> we started 20 years ago. in fact, were celebrating her 100 millionth book distributed this week, probably when this airs, it will have been last week. we started 20 years ago at martha's table in washington d.c. we have distributed more and more as the years have gone by because we started a new remodel. in recent years redistributed 10 million, 11 million a year. we support programs across the united states is now over 40,000. our funding comes from corporate cause marketing campaigns we do as well as individual donors and some foundation. but we also created a revenue-generating model, which is the first book.

>> ms. robinson, is very special focus for first book? to do the preschoolers or work the classrooms or whether? >> it's a great question. the first has built a pipeline to support our program serving kids in need, all classroom serving kids in need and reading is fundamental is a good example. we have over 1900 reading is fundamental programs supported by first book as well as over 40 dozen others. so headstart, school classroom, afterschool programs, kidd zero to 18 are supported by first book. >> gene robinson mentioned reading is fundamental and rejoin a carol rasco. give us the background if you would, mr. into an reading is fundamental. >> 46 years ago, margie

mcnamara went to a meeting that jacqueline kennedy called a ball cap matt haas says and mrs. kennedy has said too told each house, we are each going to do something to make washington a better place for the people who live and work here every day. mrs. mcnamara had a great reputation as a reading tutor. she tutored the wealthier children in town and she tutored children from very poor economic backgrounds. she had found one day in her tutoring how much it meant to the three boys she was tutoring a local public school to be given a book. she had books that are children had years before that had been left at home of course. she let each of them take a book home. well, one of the mothers came to school the next day to return the stolen boat.

i said no, we want to chose to have the book and that started the tradition of when i present a book to a shot of writing the child's name in it. it does not pretend to be the teacher of reading. risk is here to help children, particularly those most at risk of not learning to read well and on time. that usually means poor children. we are here to help them see the joy of reading first by putting that look in their hand if they have chosen and write their name in a. over recent years, we've try to begin to stress even more that parental and they need to have been without book if it's going to come alive. we have undergone a transition in the last year. for 46 years old. for the last 46 years without a

large federal book rent that was not funded in fy total budget. so we are now doing the kinds of things we probably should've done even even more is informing collaborations with their friends at first book. we have always been private fund-raising and we are stepping on a. >> the two organizations, carol rasco, if you start, do you so says collaborators or how quick >> we see ourselves as collaborators. we get asked that question about competitors. we have a significant number of programs who purchase books from the marketplace she mentioned. but we've always thought for all kinds of ways to be able to collaborate. when the federal grant went

away, first book put together a wonderful proposal to allow us to purchase books from them in a manner would really allawi's to purchase about 250,000, 200,000 more books than we would normally get for the same dollar spent elsewhere. so we're very excited that we'll be giving 1 million books over the next several months met this very moment starting the first distribution. are focusing on doing much of our work this year out of school time, when children are out of school for the winter holiday from a his spring break and summer ever going to divide these books to. risk will produce activity sheets that will go home with these books over this out of school time. with the hope that through

school or other groups reserve private nonprofit, and it's disappear or get engaged with reading what the child. so there's a lot of excitement on the first book about this project right now. >> gene robinson. >> yes, exactly right. we are collaborators. carroll is a fantastic educator and has led the sector for a long time. not too long of course. but the first book has built a supply pipeline to support its programs like is fundamental and many others who are doing fantastic work. our primary model has been to build logistics to provide tremendous access for programs

and classroom serving kids they need because that was a huge gap that was missing when our founders found first book 20 years ago. one of them, carl sommer, was volunteering here in washington d.c. and realized that here were heroes, local heroes supporting the kids who needed help the most benign environment would work for hours and hours today they're absolutely without resources. if they were beyond the reach of programs at the time in many, many worry. so what we realized as we can certainly solve one part of this problem. we can build a pipeline to get great resources to them. programs are increasingly

devoted to what kind of content is available to these programs and how they use that content in the classroom. we consider ourselves soldiers in taking on that challenge and expanding beyond what we've reach so far, so we can get completely across the united states and beyond the fantastic resources. >> gene robinson, do you work with public libraries? >> review. we like to be sure that we get brand-new books that are chosen by the administrators and teachers. that is our primary focus, but we absolutely have worked with corporate partners to supply school libraries with brand-new books and we've had multiple initiatives that focus on really

replenishing libraries. as a matter of fact are right now in response to hurricane seeing the devastation, we've got a website we were working with partners to raise funds chewed purchase replacement for libraries in new york and new jersey area. >> carol rasco, had been moved into the e-book world at all? >> not in a big way yet. we've certainly been exploring it and we don't discourage it. many of the schools and children we serve malice have not had access to the piece of equipment, so we have been looking at how can we promote that because very frankly, in addition to wanting children to have books and get them engaged,

we know what e-book is a great way to do that for many children. i above all do not want to look back 10 years from now and say we let another digital divide occur. we want to make sure the children we are serving have the opportunity to learn how to use the e-book and what if they are and what it can mean to them. so we know our friends at first book are working on that kind of thing and i can't help thinking another year or two, that will probably be a project were doing together. >> we are working on a digital platform so that we can burst the boundaries of all kinds of limitations for these kids. if anyone is confused about whether there really is the divide, let me reassure everyone that there is a horrible gap in this country.

42%, and that added not a mid-statement. 42% of kids in the united states are from low-income families. that means they simply don't have the kind of access to educational resources and books that children have. over 36 million kids. if were going to bridge that gap were divided for iniquity, whatever you call it, we've got to build a substantial system that can affordably get those resources to them. that doesn't mean books go away, but digital devices and terrific research and learning from people, all of these resources have got to be brought to what is called the base of the economic peer amid globally. the database or the economic.

made in the united states, too. we got to bridge that for the kid and that's what the first book aims to do. as carol said, it's got a large plan to get a digital platform built. were about to do that working hand-in-hand with terrific organizations. >> carol rasco, former first lady barbara bush and laura bush made reading one of their signature issues when they were in the white house. do you see a difference in support of endemic that happens when the high-profile? >> we certainly do and risk was lucky to both those on their advisory committee until the one in the white house when you're forced to get off every committee if ever served on. but the visibility that each brought with them to the white house, whether they were still serving on any official border

committee was extremely helpful and they both have foundations that had to continue to live. it's certainly a big help from people like that in those positions of power help people see that there really are children out there who do not have a single book in the home except we'll be here most often for me to children unless they are economic, you have a bucket home and we know we're getting ready to hand them one. the two most common things we've heard through the years are my mother has a book wrapped up in special cloth that she keeps in a chore and as you talk to me realizes some sort of family bible this very special and the children know that. or they will talk about the book with yellow paper in the book with yellow paper and there are no yellow pages in many communities anymore. so i think it is very typical

for those of us that always had all the books that could ever have wanted, whether on a number going to library frequently as they did in a very small town in southern arkansas. or twice a day during the summer. it was in a lot else to do. it's hard for us to believe that there are no books in a home for a child. the child was to fire two walk or ride a bike. fitting the library into a family schedule when there is little free time, perhaps our transportation or can't afford it. that is difficult. so it is again critical that we believe these things were being told, that these children are in need of one of the most basic things most children get early in life and not spokes. >> gene robinson, you have 60

seconds to make a pitch to someone who may give your organization money. to a parent, what's your pitch? >> i think the pitches there is a gap in the united states. we've got to provide heroes serving kids in need with the resources they need. we are loosing geniuses here because they're not given the educational tools, the books they need to make their imagination spring to life and have a rich, full life. this is a workforce issue, health care issue from the citizenry issue. people won't vote if they don't know how to read. we've got to enrich from the bottom up so kids know they have a chance and can make it new life for themselves. >> carol rasco, what's your pitch? >> today we have children entering schoolhouse yours that are already so far behind their

peers with one simple set of figures i often is based on a good study done a number years ago when we've had kindergarten children entering the school who were from welfare families that had the same vocabulary 3000 words. that sounds ichabod to know what it means. however, children from upper middle income families have a listening vocabulary of 20,000 words. that's a huge gap and unfortunately in this country, we never close that gap. so we need to start early anemone to really put the resources into the earliest years of children being in a school setting where we can try to reach them. >> carol rasco is president and ceo of reading is fundamental.

ms. rasco, what is your website very quickly? >> rif.or work. >> and jane robinson as chief financial officer of first book on the website. >> first book.orc. first right now. >> we thank you does her being on booktv and talking about reading programs. >> thank you. >> you're watching booktv on c-span two and one at the national press club for its annual authors night. we are joined by michael gordon of "the new york times." endgame is his most recent book. if you could size this for us, mr. gordon. >> this took me three years.

the first comprehensive war in iraq and what makes it unique is that incorporate not only american policymakers, but iraqi leadership. trimester maliki, president telekinetic rivals, adversaries, former insurgents and so i incorporated d., but was going on as i was the account type in the battlefield. i basically covered the war in iraq for "new york times" for the whole conflict. i tried to but it altogether. >> why did you call a "the endgame"? >> i covered the search and because it's the endgame of american military involvement. the last third covers the obama administration. it's not been well covered by the media in terms of what the policy was in iraq and i learned lot doing a. during the campaign, president obama talked about the goal of

ending the war in iraq. what i discovered in doing the book is the administration on policy object is in iraq went far beyond taking the troops expenditure remaking iraq government and creating a power-sharing arrangement included a feel at her to negotiate so american forces could stay in iraq. >> they try to negotiate one and i tell this story. having failed to negotiate, they claimed credit for taking troops out. initially they did try to keep a modest number of truth, initially 10,000-meter faith estimate for every hole variety of reasons it didn't work out. i cover the start of the war, middle of the war and the endgame for the military involvement. >> is covered the entire iraqi were.

at one point it on the house over there or rent in a house in baghdad. what was that late? >> the new york times is never in the green zone. always in the red zone. it was not a bad place actually, but it was heavily fortified with a fairly large security contingent, almost entirely iraqi. machine guns, all that sort of stuff. it is better defender than the american diplomatic compound of because he may mean that seriously. it turned out not to be necessary. but i didn't spend all that much time, but i passed through the and disband shifted to a new administration. full-time iraqi staff, a fairly expensive endeavor for the

newspaper. >> mr. gordon, is late for any americans in iraq still glass wall and armored cars? >> it's improved. is there not this last summer, but the summer before to see prime minister maliki. i went in the street with all iraqis, got out, walked around, what to restore. i wouldn't linger in the more contested neighborhoods. if you went to cedar city, he might make sure you security. it's better than it was in 06 and seven. i have to say from a military to come in this urge to drive down the levels of violence. his assertion made it possible for american forces to leave, but a lot of unsettled political issues, including a worrisome trend towards authoritarianism by the iraqi government. >> michael gordon's new book,

"the endgame" instead struggle from church struggle from george w. bush to barack obama. it's november 2012 right now. how many americans are in iraq as we speak? >> for no american troops are firm and a military function. there are 200 odd personnel were secunda to the embassy in the primary duty is to sell equipment to the iraqi government can perform the defensive taché function. then as a fairly sizable american embassy, which is contracted by the state department khmer reduced by maybe 25%. but what she don't have in this account so it incurred a stand and a consulate outside of bozrah in southern iraq, but the united states has lost a lot of situational awareness of what's happening in iraq. it doesn't have anything like the footprint can be used